History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

The works now constituting the Assabet Mills
were commenced in July, 184-6, all the water-
rights supposed to be necessary having been se-
cured the preceding season. The dam was built,
and a canal dug, turning the water from its regular
channel into its present reservoir. The dam and
superstructure where the mills now stand were completed,
so that buildings were erected and work
commenced in the mills in the spring of 1847, car-
pets and carpet yarns to the value of $110,000
being manufactured the first year.
The water privileges of the Assabet Mills, in-
clude, besides some two hundred acres on the
river, four hundred acres at Fort ]\Ieadow Reser-
voir in Marlborough, and tliree hundred acres at
Boon's Pond and Ram's-horn Meadow, in Stow
and Hudson ; and the works have in use and hold
in reserve steam-power estimated at 4,350 horses.
Additions and improvements have been made
continually to the present time. In 1852 Mr.
Knight, being quite advanced iti years, retired from
the firm, and Mr. Maynard carried on operations
alone, gradually changing the machinery to the
manufacture of blankets and flannels, until in
1862, steam-power having been added, a stock
company was formed, with a capital of $200,000,
that has been increased as occasion recpiired. At
present no carpets or blankets are made, and the
productions are flannels, cassimeres, and cloths, to
the value of $1,800,000 per year. The mills have
now sixty sets of woollen machinery, consuming
3,500,000 pounds of wool per year.
The number of employees is about five hundred
and forty males and three hundred and thirty females,
with a pay-roll of §275,000 per year. The
mills rank the third in size and capacity in the
state, and are said to equal any in A^ew England
in the quality of their productions. The present
capital stock "is $600,000.
Other industries of the town are the paper-mills,
first built by William May, for the manufacture
of paper by hand, about the year 1820. After-
wards they passed into the hands of John Sawyer,
MAYNARD. 157
who introduced some new machinery ; but he was
not very successful, and the mills soon passed into
the hands of William Parker, Esq., of Boston, and
at his decease his son, William T. Parker, suc-
ceeded him. The mills have been burned some
three or more times, and, owing to the depression
of that branch of industry, have lain idle a large
proportion of the time for several years. They are
now manufacturing wall-paper, employing some
ten persons, and making about one ton per day,
of the value of $40,000 per year.
There are two cider and vinegar manufactories,
making about two thousand barrels per year.
The staple production of the farmers of the town
is milk, a large proportion being sold in the vil-
lage, and some forty thousand cans sent to the
Boston market yearly.
The first church in the town was organized with
ten members, September 23, 1852, and called The
Evangelical Union Church. Mr. George W. Frost,
a licentiate of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
was acting pastor untd May, 1854, when Rev. J.
K. Deering succeeded him. In May, 1856, Rev.
A. Morton was installed. He was dismissed in
May, 1859, and was, in turn, succeeded by Rev.
E. P. Tenney, Rev. F. Wallace, Rev. A. H. Fletcher,
Rev. Thomas AUender, and Rev. 0. Hall as acting
pastors untd October, 1867, when the Rev. T. D.
P. Stone was installed, and dismissed in June,
1870. Since then Rev. Webster Hazlewood, Rev.
E. S. Huntress, Rev. B. P. Sheire, and Rev. S. S.
Mathews have been acting pastors. At present
Rev. C. E. Milliken, lately from Littleton, New
Hampshire, fills the place. The Methodists have
a convenient chapel, with the Rev. A. C. Godfrey
as pastor. The Catholic society have a neat church,
St. Bridget's, with Rev. M. J. McCall as pastor.
Glenwood Cemetery was laid out in 1871, and
by the united efforts of the ladies of the town it
has been beautified by the planting of a variety
of trees and flowering shrubs, a good well of water,
and a neat artistic covering for the same. The
Catholics also have a pretty cemetery of their own.